I have such mixed feelings towards this one, but I'd say they're overall fairly positive.
Let's get the negatives out of the way first.
- This game only covers six sagas: Alabasta, Water 7/Enies Lobby, The Paramount War, Dressrosa, Whole Cake Island, and Act 1 of Wano with a game-original ending. This means no East Blue, Skypiea, Thriller Bark, Fishman Island, or Punk Hazard unlike the previous game, and no Zou.
- Although there are plenty of new characters, MANY fan favorites are entirely missing, or worse they're sold back to us as DLC. Perona, Gecko Moria, Bartholomew Kuma, Magellan, and Caesar Clown are entirely missing from the roster, with Garp and Eneru being added through DLC.
- With the new game comes character "types," consisting of Power, Speed, Sky, and Technique. Each of these types has problems that make gameplay feel a little.....off, but power feels like the worst offender. Power types play the most like a PW3 character, and that's NOT a good thing. They have 5 light attacks that each finish into a heavy combo, which is serviceable, but the problem comes when going into the air: they have a single forward attack and a single downward attack, at which point their combo ends. In a game that prides itself on having made aerial combos, surely a THIRD of their roster shouldn't suck at doing that, right?
- There's simultaneously a LOT and NOTHING to do once you complete the story and the Dream Log. All Achievements can be gotten in one or two sittings, and the only thing left to do is grind Beri and Souls to fill out character maps and soul maps respectively. But what for? There's no more challenges! Surely the Egghead DLC could have added scenarios or even the whole story arc to play! Maybe add in the REAL Wano story! Hell, give me a playable Film Z story for Zephyr!!! There's nothing to do!!!!
- Unlike OPPW3, the allies you recruit in missions don't have any oomph. I never feel like one is a better choice over the others, partially because they don't do much themselves, and partially because there's no Kizuna Rush system that incentivizes me to pick characters I want to combo with. Very underwhelming.
- When new moves and forms debut in the show, they should DEFINITELY be added to existing characters. Why CAN'T I use Demonio Fleur, Ifrit Jambe, K-Room, and Damned Punk?
Now...that may seem like a LOT of negatives, but there's PLENTY good to say about the game too.
- The visuals are CRISP. Of the six arcs and their various locations, all of them except part of Wano FEEL like they're straight from the show. Really nice environment work.
- Sound design is CLEAN. Moves sound like they have actual impact, and it's incredibly satisfying to land hits because of it.
- The new characters (besides most of Germa) all feel good and distinct, and fill a lot of representation. Every Supernova is available (besides Apoo, but...it's Apoo), the Emperors are all present, Big Mom's Sweet Commanders are there, and every Straw Hat is playable. It would have been nice to round out the pre-timeskip Warlords with Kuma and Moria, and the Admirals with Aramaki, and I guess add Apoo. Leo and Hajrudin would have been great for Dressrosa too.
- Combos are very nice. The juggling feels good and you can chain things near-infinitely if you play well enough.
- The DASH button is a GREAT innovation on the step. Getting across large maps has never been so fun. Once you feel the glory of gliding across half of Dressrosa with NEWGATE it'll click for you.
- Skills feel like they actually buff your character meaningfully, and you can get up to 9 slots for them. My Whitebeard is a menace with everything I've got on him, and that feels good.
- Despite its drawbacks, the game DOES feel like a substantial improvement over OPPW3. I had hopes that they might make continuous updates on this one as we progressed to the end of the series, but while they ARE adding DLCs every so often, it seems there isn't going to be more story content. Maybe they'll do it with OPPW5 when it comes out.
